North Korea destroys nuclear reactor tower

North Korea destroyed the most visible symbol of its nuclear weapons program Friday, blasting apart the cooling tower at its main atomic reactor in a sign of its commitment to stop making plutonium for atomic bombs.

An explosion at the base of the cylindrical structure sent the tower collapsing into a cloud of white and gray smoke that billowed into blue skies as international journalists and diplomats looked on, according to video footage filmed by broadcaster APTN at the site.

The demolition of the 60-foot-tall cooling tower at the North's main reactor complex is a response to U.S. concessions after the North delivered a declaration Thursday of its nuclear programs to be dismantled.

"This is a very important step in the disablement process and I think it puts us in a good position to move into the next phase," said Sung Kim, the U.S. State Department's top expert on the Koreas who attended the demolition. Kim shook hands with a North Korean official following the tower's tumble to the ground.

In its first reaction to the developments this week, North Korea's Foreign Ministry welcomed Washington's decision to take the country off the U.S. trade and sanctions blacklists.

"The U.S. measure should lead to a complete and all-out withdrawal of its hostile policy toward (the North) so that the denuclearization process can proceed smoothly," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The symbolic tower explosion came just 20 months after Pyongyang shocked the world by detonating a nuclear bomb in an underground test to confirm its status as an atomic power. The nuclear blast spurred an about-face in the U.S. hard-line policy against Pyongyang, leading to the North's first steps to scale back its nuclear weapons development since the reactor became operational in 1986.

Last year, the North switched off the reactor at Yongbyon, some 60 miles north of the capital of Pyongyang, and it already has begun disabling the facility under the watch of U.S. experts so that it cannot easily be restarted.

The destruction of the cooling tower, which carries off waste heat to the atmosphere, is another step forward but not the most technically significant, because it is a simple piece of equipment that would be easy to rebuild.

Still, the demolition offers the most photogenic moment yet in the disarmament negotiations that have dragged on for more than five years and suffered repeated deadlocks and delays.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the tower's destruction would mark a step toward disablement, something that has been ongoing for many months to prevent the North from making more plutonium for bombs.

"It is important to get North Korea out of the plutonium business, but that will not be the end of the story," she said in Kyoto, Japan, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized countries.

North Korea's nuclear declaration, which was delivered six months later than the country promised and has not yet been released publicly, is said to only give the overall figure for how much plutonium was produced at Yongbyon — but no details of bombs that may have been made.

Experts believe the North has produced up to 110 pounds of weapons-grade plutonium, enough for as many as 10 nuclear bombs.

The declaration was being distributed Friday by China, the chair of the arms talks, to the other countries involved, U.S. envoy Christopher Hill said.

"We'll have to study it very carefully and then we'll have to work on verification," Hill said in Kyoto.

The declaration does not address the North's alleged uranium enrichment program or suspicions of its nuclear proliferation to other countries, such as Syria

INDIAN SHARE MARKET

Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008 Updated 12:26 IST


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Bill Clinton backs Obama, but that doesn't mean they're bosom buddies

Former President Clinton on Tuesday offered to help Barack Obama win the White House, although what work he'll do for his wife's former rival remained uncertain.

The Obama campaign is still smarting over some of Bill Clinton's criticism in the primary race, while the last Democratic president remains a popular political draw. But before the two can work together, they have to speak.

Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have taken steps to join efforts in the last three weeks — she met with him privately, endorsed his campaign and will campaign with him Friday. But the former Democratic president and the man running to be the next one haven't talked since the campaign ended.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the 42nd president came up in a phone call between Obama and Hillary Clinton on Sunday. They talked about how Obama should connect with Bill Clinton in the future, Burton said.

Bill Clinton extended his support to Obama for the first time Tuesday in a one-sentence statement from spokesman Matt McKenna.

"President Clinton is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States," McKenna said.

It's not clear what Obama might ask him to do. The campaign wasn't specific when asked.

"A unified Democratic Party is going to be a powerful force for change this year and we're confident President Clinton will play a big role in that," was all Burton would say.

Bill Clinton will not be attending the rally with his wife and Obama Friday in the symbolic town of Unity, N.H. McKenna said the former president is in Europe this week to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, give speeches and work for the William J. Clinton Foundation.

Hillary Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee issued a statement after her husband's that didn't mention him. "Senator Clinton is very pleased with how quickly the party is coming together after the primaries, and she will continue to do everything she can to unite Democrats behind Senator Obama as our nominee," Elleithee said.

Bill Clinton was an outspoken critic of Obama during the primary race. He said Obama's opposition to the Iraq war was a "fairy tale" and raised questions about whether the first-term Illinois senator had the experience to lead the country. His remarks angered some black leaders who felt Clinton was dismissing Obama's historic bid, as when he compared Obama's win in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson's victories there in the 1980s.

Clinton fumed in response that it was Obama's campaign that "played the race card on me."

Storm hits China after lashing Philippines

Tropical storm Fengshen surged toward Taiwan and southeast China on Wednesday after leaving a path of destruction in the Philippines where the search for more survivors from a capsized ferry has proved fruitless.


Survivors who had spent 48 hours drifting in the sea after the ferry sunk recover in hospital.

1 of 3 Fengshen was downgraded to a tropical storm late Tuesday. But it still managed to shut down much of Hong Kong. Schools, courts and even the financial markets were closed for part of Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.

In the Philippines, meanwhile, people struggled to recover from Fengshen's deadly impact as a typhoon when it hit the country last weekend.

Divers found bodies but so far no survivors inside the hull of the ferry that capsized in the typhoon, a Philippine Coast Guard official said Tuesday.

A total of 864 people -- 725 of them passengers -- were aboard the Princess of the Stars when it overturned about a mile off Sibuyan Island early Saturday as Typhoon Fengshen pummeled the Philippines, according to the ship's owner, Sulpicio Lines. Watch the storm hit Hong Kong »

Rescuers earlier found at least 34 survivors and at least 11 dead from a ferry that capsized in a typhoon, the Philippine Information Agency said Monday.

Divers received no response on Monday when they hammered on the 23,824-ton Princess of Stars that was jutting from the water off Sibuyan island in the central Philippines.

"We're not ruling out that somebody there is still alive," coast guard chief Wilfredo Tamayo told The Associated Press. "You can never tell."

But high seas that have prevented rescue ships from approaching the ferry showed no sign of abating Monday as officials planned how to enter the ship -- either with divers or by drilling a hole in the hull, Tamayo said. Watch aerial pictures of the sunken ferry »

Hope faded by the hour that large numbers of survivors will be found on land where communications were hit by the weekend storm that killed at least 163 people.

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Officials added that they have also found victims and survivors from other fishing boats that capsized in the area.

A U.S. Navy ship equipped with helicopters will soon join the search and rescue effort, said Richard Gordon, the head of the Philippines Red Cross and a member of the country's Senate.

Fishermen found 30 survivors from the ferry Princess of Stars, which rolled over early Saturday morning, Gordon said. One person died after being picked up, and another was lost during rescue efforts, he said, but the remaining 28 have been delivered to police.

"There's quite a few people out there that are still missing," he said. "We are trying our best to find them, and I hope we could get some help." Watch images of the ferry sinking »

The Princess of Stars had 864 people on board, according to the vessel's owner, Sulipicio Lines. The manifest posted on the company's Web site lists 725 passengers, 112 crew members and 27 others including security escorts, canteen personnel, and sea marshalls.

It overturned about a mile off the shore of Sibuyan Island early Saturday as Typhoon Fengshen pummeled the Philippines.

Sulipicio said the family of each person killed in the accident will receive 200,000 pesos (approximately $4,600), the Philippine Information Agency reported.

The crew of the vessel, which can hold up to 2,000 people, reported that its engines had failed during a regular run from Manila and Cebu City, according to Vice Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo, the head of the country's coast guard.

Rescuers knocked on the ferry's hull Sunday evening in hopes of hearing signs of survivors within the capsized ship, the captain of which had given orders to abandon it before contact was lost. Watch a report on the disaster »

"Many of them were wearing life jackets," Gordon said. "Hopefully we can still find them alive."

The typhoon has killed at least 140 people on land, with at least 255 more reported missing, he said.

The storm had not been expected to hit the Philippines when it first formed last week. But the storm struck the islands Friday with winds of about 140 km/h (90 p.m.) before moving north toward China and Taiwan. A storm warning posted along the ferry's course would not have required the vessel to cancel its trip, but relatives of the passengers have questioned why the ship was allowed to leave port.

"They should not have let the ship sail because there was a typhoon coming," Isadora Salinas said. "How can they do that? They won't even give out information about what happened."

Gordon said Sulpicio Lines -- which operates the ferry -- has a history of previous accidents, "and people are pouncing on them right now."

700 Missing After Philippines Typhoon

Hundreds of passengers were feared trapped and may have died after their ferry capsized in the Philippines during Typhoon Fengshen, said two survivors who struggled to shore Sunday.

The storm left at least 155 dead, submerging entire communities and setting off landslides, said Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the national Red Cross, but there were concerns the death toll would jump dramatically.

The 72 people listed as missing did not include the more than 740 passengers and crew aboard the MV Princess of Stars, and worried relatives wept as they waited for news. Gordon said he has asked U.S. authorities for help in finding anyone who might still be alive inside the ferry and was told "they are going to try very, very hard."

A rescue ship battling huge waves and strong winds reached the ferry Sunday, one end jutting out of the water upside-down, more than 24 hours after it lost radio contact. There was no sign of survivors at the site, and only four people who were on board were known to have reached shore alive.

"They haven't seen anyone. They're scouring the area. They're studying the direction of the waves to determine where survivors may have drifted," coast guard spokesman Lt. Senior Grade Arman Balilo said.


Villagers found six bodies — including a man and a woman who had bound themselves together — along with children's slippers and life jackets that washed ashore nearby.

Officials were checking reports that a large number of survivors might have reached one nearby island and that a lift raft was spotted off another, coast guard spokesman Cmdr. Antonio Cuasito said.

"We can only pray that there are many survivors so we can reduce the number of casualties," he said.

Reynato Lanoria, a janitor on the ship, estimated about 100 people could have survived, "but the others were trapped inside."

"I think they are all dead by now," he told DZMM radio after making it to shore by jumping in the water and reaching a life raft.

Stocks open lower as FedEx issues profit warning

Stocks declined early Wednesday after FedEx Corp. warned that weakening demand and surging fuel costs would likely leave its fiscal 2009 profit well below what Wall Street had been predicting.

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The shipping concern's difficulties with surging energy costs serve as the latest sign that the spike in oil prices, which have nearly doubled in the past year, are exacting a burdensome tax on businesses and consumers alike.

Wall Street is also digesting results from another trouble spot in the economy: the financial sector. Morgan Stanley reported a stronger-than-expected fiscal second-quarter profit because of increased trading and asset sales. But earnings at the nation's second-largest investment bank fell 61 percent from a year earlier as revenue declined sharply.

And a regional bank, Fifth Third Bancorp, said it plans to cut its dividend by nearly two-thirds, raise $1 billion through an offering of preferred stock and raise another $1 billion through the sale of businesses.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 39.73, or 0.33 percent, to 12,120.57.

Broader stock indicators also declined. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 6.98, or 0.52 percent, to 1,343.95, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 11.01, or 0.45 percent, to 2,446.72. The blue chips fell more than 100 points Tuesday.

Light, sweet crude rose 38 cents to $134.39 in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Weekly government domestic inventory figures were due at midmorning. Though often volatile, the week-to-week numbers have drawn increased attention in recent months as investors look for any clues about where energy prices are headed.

The run-up in oil has unnerved some on Wall Street and raised the prospect that strapped consumers are going to pare spending on some discretionary items because they are forced to reach deeper into their wallets at the gas pump.

Bond prices rose as stocks declined. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 4.19 percent from 4.20 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

In corporate news, FedEx predicts it will earn $4.75 to $5.25 per share for the fiscal year that began this month, below the $5.92 per share analysts had expected, according to Thomson Financial. The stock fell $2.21, or 2.6 percent, to $82.12.

Among financials — one of the weakest performing sectors in the early going — Morgan Stanley fell $1.87, or 4.6 percent, to $38.72, while Fifth Third declined $2.07, or 16.3 percent, to $10.66.

___

India inflation to head up, ease by end-2008

India's headline inflation rate is likely to hover at 8 to 9 percent for some time and will hit double digits before declining in the last quarter of calendar 2008, its chief statistician said on Tuesday.

India's most widely watched inflation measure, the wholesale price index (WPI), is already at a seven-year high of 8.75 percent and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unexpectedly raised its key lending rate last week to 8.0 percent in an effort to calm prices.

Economists expect the impact of a hike in government-set fuel prices early in June will push the WPI to a 13-year peak above 9 percent this month. The early June data is due this Friday.

Pronab Sen, secretary at the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, told Reuters in an interview primary price increases had been factored in but second-round increases were now coming through into the inflation numbers.

"Numerically, I suspect it's going to hang around at somewhere between the 8 and 9 percent mark for a while," Sen said.

Asked if inflation would reach double digits, he replied: "It will touch it but it's not likely to stay there for very long."

Rising costs of raw materials, food and energy worldwide have stoked prices in Asia's third-largest economy, prompting the government to ban some exports and slash some import duties to keep supplies up and prices down.

Inflation is well above the RBI's comfort zone of 5.5 percent and is posing a major policy headache for the communist-backed ruling coalition in the run-up to key state and federal polls later this year and in 2009, as rising prices hit the poorer members of the population the hardest.



BACK TO TREND

India's economy grew 9 percent in the fiscal year which ended in March and Sen said growth was moderating.

"Now we are starting to taper down to the trend and the trend would be somewhere between 8 and 8.5 percent. So I suspect we'll be there somewhere."

But he added that with inflation and efforts to control it, as well as a global slowdown, growth might drop below trend.

"We might actually overshoot on the downward trajectory a little bit, so we might dip slightly below 8 percent but eventually we'll catch up."

The economy has averaged 8.8 percent in the past four years. The RBI expects it will expand at 8-8.5 percent this fiscal year to March, while some economists and policymakers say it could be lower.

On prices, Sen said the peak would depend on how soon demand was compressed and when new industrial capacity came on stream.

"So I'm really looking at the last quarter of the calendar for it to start coming down."

Demand was hard to gauge because of lack of data but there was some evidence of moderation in fast-moving consumer goods and white goods, he said.

Except for steel, capacity was being created across sectors, including pharmaceuticals, auto components, autos and cement, while capital goods, such as engineering plant and machinery, had gained in strength after a late start to capacity addition in 2006.

Inflation eased quickly in late 2007, dropping to just above 3 percent, and Sen said that base effect would give the headline rate an artificial "push-up" at the same time this year.

Where it ended the fiscal year next March would depend on the government's policy on domestic fuel prices, he said.

"A lot depends on what is done on oil prices and that's a policy matter," he said.